Sevrum aggression

Scout1984

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2019
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so here's the deal I have a mixed 220 with 2 sevrums, both male about the same size. 1 a red spot the other red shoulder. The red spot is overly aggressive with the other so I removed him and reintroduced about week later with the same results. He's fine in my 45 corner for now but long term want him back in the 220. What are some things I could try to ease the aggression?

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tlindsey

Silver Tier VIP
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Aug 6, 2011
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so here's the deal I have a mixed 220 with 2 sevrums, both male about the same size. 1 a red spot the other red shoulder. The red spot is overly aggressive with the other so I removed him and reintroduced about week later with the same results. He's fine in my 45 corner for now but long term want him back in the 220. What are some things I could try to ease the aggression?

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Tbh the dominant male Severum will always remember the less aggressive one no matter what in most cases with just 2 male Cichlid of the same species.
 

Ash02

Plecostomus
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Aug 27, 2019
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I also have 2 severum in a 180. When doing my research, it seemed that its a situation that will either work or it won't. Sounds like your situation didn't work. You could try to replace the aggressive fish with another, but the risk still exists.
 
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burntrubber

Piranha
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Feb 5, 2010
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Aquarium decor that can block line of sight, demarcate territory might help. My tank has a pile of rock and wood in the middle so fish that don't like one another stays opposite.
 

Rocksor

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Nov 28, 2011
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You can't do much to reduce the aggression. Even adding more severums can make the situation worse. There's alway a chance it could get better or that the other severum will waste away and refuse to eat. With aggressive severums, I've had 2 that just waste away and give up fighting the aggressor as well as eating.
 

GentleGiantsCichlidKeeper

Candiru
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Sep 17, 2020
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I have a Golden Severum and in the cases it's aggressive it just doesn't like it's tankmates, I suggested moving the aggressor. Severums IMO are generally peaceful so if there is an aggressive fish I suggest removing it. With Severums they seems to battle it out no matter what when aggressive.
 

BigDaddyMagnum

Plecostomus
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Sep 12, 2008
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hard to say honestly, all fish have different temperaments and personalities , i have a green severum that has been a mean MFer since day one, hence his nickname is mean joe green... lol
 

neutrino

Goliath Tigerfish
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Jan 22, 2013
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Adjustments work sometimes. Sometimes you can rearrange the tank to create partially separated spaces (more than a sight break), I've had it work if the less dominant fish will keep to his part of the tank and the more dominant fish isn't too determined, if it's mostly content just to chase the other fish back to its end of the tank. Having or adding another pushy fish, enough to slow down the other pushy fish without itself being overly mean can moderate things. And sometimes creating a group instead of just the two helps. Ime these can work ime but aren't guaranteed.

I have a wild A. metae group, a week after I got them a pair formed and it was the little female that bossed the tank, was particularly aggressive to the other female, no damage to fins, but frequent and aggressive harassment, stressful to the other fish. I could have moved them to another tank with plenty of room, but I like that tank as it is. So I was seriously considering selling or trading that pair, which I may eventually do but there's no urgency due to subsequent events: I tried making a defined, somewhat hidden territory at one end of the tank, which helped some, but didn't make peace. Meanwhile a couple of geos in the tank became much feistier, one in particular made itself a territory and started fussing with anything that came close, including any of the Aequidens. I rearranged the tank a bit to limit and better define it's spot, which settled things down enough not to annoy me anymore.

Another thing I've done before-- with a severum and another fish it didn't like-- was an actual divider. Don't remember exactly how long, definitely over a month, but until the two fish were ignoring each other. After that they were fine. The thing with separating fish ime, is one week is not really long enough, unless maybe you've revamped the whole tank, including residents, in the meantime.

No guarantees with such 'tricks' but these are things I've done in cases where aggression was constant or frequent (but without physical damage being done).
 
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